DIY: Car-top ‘Solar’ Camp Shower

Staying fresh and clean on the road without getting a hotel room can be tricky. But if you build your own car-top ‘solar’ camp shower, you can stay squeaky clean wherever you roam. This DIY is a bit challenging, but with the right tools and materials, you’ll be ready to hit the road in no time.

Tools:

Hacksaw

Drill with 1/8", 3/4" and 3/8" bits

Marker

Materials:

One 10' length of 4" Schedule 40 ABS pipe (this will depend on how much water you want the shower to hold)

Two 4" ABS end caps

One 4" T-joint ABS fitting with threaded top opening

4" ABS cleanout cap for T-joint

One 1/2" brass locknut

One flat rubber O-ring

Two canoe foam blocks (optional: these go on your vehicle’s crossbars and keep the shower more secure and held off the bars; alternately you can just tie the shower directly to the bars)

One Schrader valve from an aluminum wheel; available at any tire/wheel shop

ABS cleaner/primer

ABS cement

Waterproof silicone sealant

Sandpaper

Tie-down straps

Petroleum jelly

Schrader bike pump

One 3/4" hose spigot

Hose with nozzle

Directions

Step 1: How much water do you need?

First, you need to decide how much water you want the shower to hold, while considering the overall weight once it’s filled. We chose to make our shower about 6' long, which holds about 4.5 gallons of water. The amount of shower time your water capacity gives you depends on the psi you pump the shower to and the type of nozzle you’re using; we got about 15 minutes of shower time.

Step 2: Cut your main ABS pipe.

Measure the 10' length of ABS to 5' 6" and mark with the marker. Use the hacksaw to cut at your measurement. Measure and mark a 6" length from the remaining pipe and cut at the mark. You will now have a 5' 6" length, a 6" length and an extra piece.

Step 3: Cut foam blocks (optional).

If using the foam canoe blocks, position one end of the 4" ABS pipe on the side of one of the blocks without the bar cutouts. Keep the bottom of the pipe as close to the middle of the block as possible without overlapping the bar cutout. Mark the pipe’s outline with a marker. Use the hacksaw to cut out the semicircle of foam. Repeat with the other block.

Step 4: Drill a hole for the spigot.

Place the brass locknut inside one of the end caps as close to the outside edge as possible without touching. Mark the inside circumference with a marker. Remove the locknut and mark a dot in the middle of the circle. Starting with a 1/8" bit and working up to a 3/4" bit, drill a hole at the dot through the end cap. You want the finished hole to be 3/4" across, just wide enough for the spigot to fit through. We had to ream the opening a bit for the spigot to fit.

Step 5: Install the Schrader valve.

Mark a dot directly above the spigot hole, about 3/4" from the edge of the end cap. Using the 3/8" bit, drill a hole at the dot. Run the valve through from back to front, so it sticks out the smooth face side. Place the flanged washer narrow side first onto the front of the valve stem. Holding the washer and valve in place with on hand, use the other to apply a bead of silicone around the front opening around the valve stem.

Step 6: Install the spigot.

Place a rubber O-ring over the threads of the spigot. We used a round O-ring but a flat one would have been better. Apply a bead of silicone all the way around the bottom of the O-ring, then insert the spigot into the front face of the end cap. Holding it in place with one hand, apply another bead of silicone around the threads of the spigot on the inside face of the end cap to create an airtight seal. Screw the fastener onto the spigot hand-tight. Let the silicone cure according to package directions.

Step 7: Assemble and glue the body of the shower.

Use the sandpaper to rough up the edges of the pipe. In an area with good ventilation, use the ABS cleaner to clean and prime your pipes for gluing. Clean the outside ends of the 4" pipes and the inside edges of the T-joint and the end caps. Working a piece at a time, apply ABS cement to the inside of an end cap, then to the outside of the pipe edge and press firmly together. Assemble pieces in the following order: Plain end cap, 5' ABS pipe, T-joint, 6" ABS pipe, end cap with spigot. Make sure to keep the end cap valve and the T-joint opening aligned at the ‘top’ of the shower and the spigot is pointing ‘down’. Let cement cure according to package directions.

Step 8: Install on your car.

Slide the foam blocks (if using) into your crossbars. Place the shower on top of the blocks, with the spigot end at the rear of the car. Use tie-down straps to secure the shower to the crossbars, with the spigot facing down. Alternately, secure the shower directly to the bars, with a friend holding the shower in place as you do so.

Step 9: Fill with water.

Unscrew the cleanout cap on the T-joint opening. Using a hose or a jug, fill your shower with water once it is on top of your car. It will be too heavy to lift if you do this beforehand! Don’t fill it all the way; you need to leave space for the air to be pressurized. To ensure a tight seal, apply petroleum jelly to the threads of the cleanout cap and screw it back on hand-tight.

Step 10: Pressurize the shower.

Screw on the hose with nozzle to the spigot. Unscrew the Schrader valve cap and attach your bike pump or air compressor. Pump until the desired pressure is reached and screw the valve cap back on. Note: Do NOT go over your pipe’s pressure rating. We used about 30 psi, which is plenty for good water flow. You may need to re-pressurize depending on how long you use the shower.

Step 11: Get clean!

Open up the spigot and enjoy your new shower. The longer the shower sits in the sun, the warmer your water will be. Use for dirty feet, sticky hands, muddy pups, sweaty kids and anything else your heart desires. Make sure to follow Leave No Trace Principles wherever you use your new shower. Note: We don’t recommend drinking or cooking with the water from the shower.

Brilliant! Favourable and fulfils its purpose. Do you think you can attach something like that to any roof rack? We have an Eco Solution model (see here https://www.sortimo.ie/products/topsystem/) on our VW bus. If that works, I’ll rebuild the shower, if you don’t mind 😉

great advise with the system from sortimo. But did you see the feature where you can plan the inside of your van and your roof rack as well? They offer a configurator (https://www.mysortimo.ie/en_IE/vehicleselection?confi=3139) on their website where you can plan your Vansystems virtually if it fits or not 😉 Maybe you could try this.

I did this years ago on an old Land Rover and it works great. In the summer, park in the shade, the water can actually get pretty hot in an all black pipe, but ABS is the right material to use (similar chemical is in tattoo ink). Typical white PVC will leach lead into the water, especially when heated in the sun. There are versions of plastic pipe designed for potable water, if you (or your pet) intend to drink from it, definitely go that route, it’s only marginally more expensive and worth it, and plastic pipe can be painted a dark color to take advantage of the solar heating (or just to match your car). I made mine with a length of 6″ pipe to keep it shorter but still have decent capacity. I also used a quick disconnect on the hose for convenience.

I will offer one word of caution, regardless of what size pipe you use, water weighs a lot and when these things are not completely full (i.e. 3/4-1/2 full) they become a very dynamic load. Always mount these so that, while driving, the water moves front to back, not side to side. Water weighs roughly 60lbs per square foot. When forced sideways while turning, or worse, while trying to avoid a collision, and you’ll be surprised how much effect it will have on handling, particularly when mounted on top of your vehicle. Front to back is completely safe.

You’re right to caution about the dynamic load. I’ve read before that you should completely fill the reservoir for travel to eliminate the shifting water hammer effect, then drain a bit when you’re ready to use it.

I’m no physicist but have worked with irrigation pipes. Careful with pressurizing with air to the rated pressure. That rating is for water which is different than air. Water is not compressible, air is and can “spring” causing rupture of pvc or abs into sharp shrapnel pieces.

Has anyone added a 180 degree u-bend on the back side and ran another 6′ pipe section (creating an elongated ‘U’ shape) along side the first tube to double water capacity? The drawbacks I see are potentially: difficulty pressurizing due to the increase volume and a faster loss of pressure. Thoughts? Anyone tried it?

Increased volume is definitely the difficulty with pressurizing. We extended ours to 10′ of length and found that with our travel pump it takes a long time to get enough pressure into the pipe for a meaningful spray.

This is a great video and article, very easy to follow. However, I had to make mine with PVC, no one in the local area had ABS that I could find. The PVC end caps are not flat, so I’ll have to find at least one ABS cap or something else to use as the back cap.

If you don’t have a huge drill bit invest in a 1.125” step bit. You can quickly drill holes ranging from about 0.25” to 1.125” using this one bit. Mine is practically the most useful tool I’ve ever owned. Great for custom electrical and plumbing projects.